By Narrative Science In spite of an expected dip in profit, most analysts are positive about Procter & Gamble before it reports its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, August 1, 2013. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
By Narrative Science In spite of an expected dip in profit, most analysts are positive about Procter & Gamble before it reports its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, August 1, 2013. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
By Alice G. Walton, Contributor
Scientific evidence is mounting daily for what many have long sensed: that practices like mindfulness, meditation, and yoga can help us address certain intractable individual and societal problems. Prominent companies – Google, General Mills, Target, Apple, Nike, AOL, and Procter & Gamble among them – and prominent individuals have already embraced this possibility. Tim Ryan, the Ohio congressman who wrote the book A Mindful Nation, has been a big proponent of bringing mindfulness to the masses. He, along with others, believes that mindfulness should be a part of everyone’s day, to help wire our brains to deal with our many modern stressors. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Investors follow the Dow Jones Industrials because it fairly represents a reasonable microcosm of the U.S. economy with stocks from many different industries. So far this week, we’ve looked at health care stocks, financials, energy companies, and tech stocks. Today, let’s turn to the consumer goods sector.
Consumer-oriented stocks play a major role in the Dow because consumers are such a key element of economic activity. The ups and downs of the entire economy tend to follow the behavior of consumers, and companies that can capitalize on changing trends tend to do well. Let’s take a look at how various consumer stocks in the Dow have fared so far in 2013 and what their prospects are for the rest of the year and beyond.
Dow consumer stock total return price data by YCharts.
Two things stand out from this chart. All six of these stocks have performed in line with or better than the overall Dow. Moreover, many of them have done so despite having faced major challenges recently:
Yet despite these warning signs, investors still see the consumer sector as a relatively safe place to invest. With easy-to-understand business models and well-known products, these companies are especially compelling to investors who have been out of the stock market for a while and want the security of a familiar name in their portfolios.
Can consumer stocks keep up the pace?
One big issue for consumer stocks is that most of them trade at fairly high earnings multiples. That reflects the investors’ desire to have defensively oriented stocks in their portfolios, but it also greatly reduces the margin of safety that those stocks usually offer. If you anticipate a downturn, you shouldn’t necessarily expect these stocks to hold up as well as they have in the past when the market
From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/how-the-dows-consumer-stocks-have-fared-in/
By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Old Spice is getting some new digs. Procter & Gamble just unveiled a line of bar soaps aimed at freshening up the 75-year-old grooming brand.
Source: Procter & Gamble.
Already the leader in body wash sales for men, P&G is hoping its new product will appeal to the 40% of guys who prefer to use bar soap but don’t have many options as far as “manly scents” go.
It sure could use a sales spark. The company has been suffering through a slump lately. Sales increased by just 3% last year, while earnings fell by 7%. Profits were down, too, with gross margin slipping by 1.6 percentage points in 2012 after a 1.4-percentage-point drop the prior year. Worse yet, the company’s sales volumes didn’t improve over 2011, which left price increases as the sole engine for revenue growth last year. P&G blamed the weak global economy for helping to keep consumers away.
Still, competition had more than a little to do with P&G’s losses. Unilever notched a much stronger 7% rise in sales last year. And the company managed solid volume growth of better than 3%. Ditto for Colgate-Palmolive, which grew revenue and sales volumes by more than 2% last year.
P&G has since clawed back a bit of the market share it lost to rivals, and cost cuts have also helped boost P&G’s profits recently. However, it won’t get the serious business improvements it needs without rising sales volumes.
And that’s why innovation is critical to the company’s goals this year. It saw success with Tide brand Pods, which quickly grew into a disruptive sales leader in the laundry category. P&G says it has more of those types of “discontinuous innovations” in the pipeline, of the kind that “obsolete current products and create new categories and new brands.”
So investors can expect P&G to make a few more product announcements like this in the quarters ahead. Heavy spending on marketing is also in the cards, as the company looks to support all the new product rollouts. P&G has said that it expects big sales growth in the second half of the year. It’s time to start delivering on that goal.
If you’re on the lookout for high-yielding stocks, The Motley Fool has compiled a special free report outlining our nine top dependable dividend-paying stocks. It’s called “Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks.” You can access your copy today at no cost! Just click here.
The article Procter & Gamble’s New Look for Old Spice originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
It took a while, but the Dow Jones Industrials finally warmed up to the start of earnings season by rising 60 points and setting a new all-time record high. Yet even though anxiety about the huge bull-market run that stocks have enjoyed since 2009 has some investors considering whether they ought to take profits and run, today’s market action shows a surprising dynamic that is a big shift from more normal investor behavior.
Ordinarily, with markets at new highs, worried investors would bid up shares of consumer giants. Yet many of the Dow’s top consumer companies finished lower today. Procter & Gamble fell two-thirds of a percent, while Coca-Cola backed off a 52-week high to finish lower by 0.4%. Both companies generally have defensive characteristics that worried investors typically like, as their businesses aren’t very sensitive to changing economic conditions, and they sell products that have relatively inelastic demand. Yet both stocks trade at above-market valuations, and recent concerns about Coke’s sales-volume challenges and P&G’s product miscues have conservative investors feeling less secure about their ability to withstand a market reversal.
Meanwhile, it was tech stocks — far from the usual favorite among defensive investors — that finished with huge gains. Although the Dow’s tech components can point to news to justify part of their gains, investors are also gravitating to their cheap valuations as providing a margin of safety in the event of a future downturn.
McDonald’s , also a defensive favorite, had its own problems today, falling from new highs to end down 0.4%. For the fast-food giant, an outbreak of bird flu in China could lead to reduced numbers of customers in the emerging nation, which has been an important part of the McDonald’s growth story in recent years. Reported price cuts could help, but they might also merely exacerbate sales declines by trimming margins and leading to further weakness.
Finally, American Express fell more than half a percent after the European Commission said it’s looking at a couple of card networks that target the continent to see if there are anticompetitive practices involved in the fees they charge and the agreements they have with merchants. AmEx wasn’t specifically mentioned, but given its growth ambitions, it faces many of the same issues as its rivals and could potentially face the same issues that the EC mentioned.
McDonald’s turned in a dismal year in 2012, underperforming the broader market by 25 percentage points. Looking ahead, can the fast-food giant reclaim its throne atop the restaurant industry, or will this unsettling trend continue? Our top analyst weighs in on McDonald’s future in a recent premium report on the company. Click here now find out whether a buying opportunity has emerged for this global juggernaut.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Brian Pacampara, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool’s free investing community, consumer staples giant Unilever has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Unilever and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Unilever facts
|
|
|
|---|---|
|
Headquarters (founded) |
London, U.K. (1885) |
|
Market Cap |
$118.9 billion |
|
Industry |
Packaged foods and meats |
|
Trailing-12-Month Revenue |
$66.5 billion |
|
Management |
CEO Paul Polman (since 2008) CFO Jean-Marc Huet (since 2010) |
|
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) |
32.1% |
|
Cash/Debt |
$3.7 billion/$13.2 billion |
|
Dividend Yield |
3.1% |
|
Competitors |
Procter & Gamble General Mills |
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 97% of the 872 members who have rated Unilever believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.
Just yesterday, one of those Fools, mocha283, succinctly summed up the Unilever bull case for our community:
Best. Euro stock. EVER. Love this company so much: excellent gains in the past couple years I’ve owned it (despite tons of negative financials in Europe) AND has a steady and strong dividend to boot. Besides the fact that you see their staple products all around the world, from deodorant to peanut butter, this is definitely a “forever” stock you should keep in your portfolio.
If you want market-thumping returns, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Of course, despite a strong five-star rating, Unilever may not be your top choice.
We’ve found another stock we are incredibly excited about — excited enough to dub it “The Motley Fool’s Top Stock for 2013.” We have compiled a special free report for investors to uncover this stock today. The report is 100% free, but it won’t be here forever, so click here to access it now.
Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.
The article Why Unilever Is Poised to Outperform originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By John Divine, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Not only did the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a new intraday record today, but it ended at all-time highs and two-thirds of its components closed in the black. Paradoxically, expectations for low growth this earnings season may be aiding the market‘s gravity-defying run. Potentially easy-to-beat low expectations combined with some product-driven rallies helped the Dow add about 60 points, or 0.4%, to close at 14,673.
Technology in particular showed up today, ending as the second-hottest major sector. Leading the charge in blue chips, Microsoft surged 3.6% on excitement about its new Xbox model. Word has it the company will showcase the upcoming console at an event next month, where price points (there could be two versions) and product specs will be revealed.
Shares of chip maker Advanced Micro Devices rose in connection with the new console as well. Shares rocketed more than 13% higher yesterday when word broke that AMD will provide the processor for the next Xbox, and investors continued to bid the stock 1.5% higher today. Microsoft is hoping the console catches on as a versatile, all-in-one entertainment device. If it can pull that off, both AMD and Microsoft stand to benefit from its ubiquity.
Intel shares continued a rally that began late Monday after details broke on its new Thunderbolt port for Macs. Enabling major advances in graphical content and transfer speeds, the Thunderbolt reportedly supports data transfers of up to 20 gigabits per second. Though major production isn’t expected until 2014, a product demonstration yesterday got Wall Street antsy. Shares rose 3.1% today.
Of course, the Dow still had a handful of laggards, and Procter & Gamble ended as the index’s worst performer, down 0.7%. P&G’s slip wasn’t predicated by much substance. The stock mostly suffered with the rest of the consumer goods sector, which, next to utilities, suffered the poorest showing Tuesday.
When it comes to dominating markets, it doesn’t get much better than Intel’s position in the PC microprocessor arena. However, that market is maturing, and Intel finds itself in a precarious situation longer term if it doesn’t find new avenues for growth. In this premium research report on Intel, our analyst runs through all of the key topics investors should understand about the chip giant. Click here now to learn more.
var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ eventType: “TickerReportPitch”, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Filed under: Shopping, Advertising, Consumer Goods, Products
By MAE ANDERSON
NEW YORK — Old Spice is raising the bar, literally.
The aftershave brand, which is known for appealing to more mature men, is introducing a line of scented soap bars this month.
It may seem odd that Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), which has fought in recent years to refashion its 75-year-old Old Spice brand to target younger men, is rolling out something that some people consider antiquated.
After all, not much has changed with bar soap since P&G introduced Ivory soap in 1879. Body wash has eclipsed bar soap sales in 2010, according to research firm Euromonitor International.
Bar soap sales edged up just 1 percent in the U.S. between 2007 and 2012 to $1.62 billion, according to the firm’s data. Meanwhile, body wash revenue jumped 30 percent during the same period to total $2.44 billion.
But Old Spice executives say their interviews with thousands of men each year indicate that bar soap is popular among men. Some say it’s what they grew up with, others prefer the “squeaky clean” feeling of bar soap and others just like that it’s cheaper than body wash, he said.
“We know that 42 percent of guys use bar soap in the shower, but only 15 percent of bar soap has ‘manly’ scents,” said Jason Partin, Old Spice brand manager.
The rest are odor neutral or have feminine scent, he said, leaving an opening for Old Spice.
The new soaps come in Old Spice‘s three most popular scents: “Fiji,” a summery scent, “Power Sport,” a fresher, clean scent, and “Swagger,” which is slightly musky. They’re aimed at 25- to 34-year-old men, and will cost $3.99 for a 6-pack and $1.79 for a 2-pack.
To rev up interest, the company is rolling out an ad campaign on Tuesday that includes spots that make fun of jingle-laden soap commercials from the 1980s.
One shows a man showering with the soap in a gym locker room and then cutting open a basketball to reveal a watermelon-like inside. “It’s a really weird commercial for soap,” the accompanying jingle trills.
Another shows a man showering with the soap and then having the shower following him everywhere — even when he is in the middle of operating on a patient and when he goes out to dinner with a beautiful woman.
“The freshness will follow you all through your day,” the jingle states. “This could actually be a fairly serious problem.”
Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer product maker whose products range from Tide detergent to Crest toothpaste and Gillette razors, has focused on rolling out new products in North America as it lowers costs to boost its bottom line.
Old Spice, with about $564 million in annual sales, according to Bernstein estimates, is not a large …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Old Spice Introduces New Bar Soap Lineup (Rope Not Included), Showering Guys with the Bar Soap They’ve Been Smelling For
Brand revives classic jingle-based soap television creative from yesteryear
CINCINNATI–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Filling a void in the marketplace when it comes to guy bar soapers in need of a more masculine smelling bar, the Old Spice brand from Procter & Gamble (NYS: PG) today announced it is introducing an all-new lineup of manly scented bar soaps to the brand’s versatile collection of male grooming products. Arriving in stores this month, new Old Spice bar soap is available in the brand’s three most popular scents – Fiji, Pure Sport and Swagger.
Pure Sport High Endurance six pack (Photo: Business Wire)
“With new Old Spice bar soap, we wanted show the more than 40 percent of guys who are bar soap loyalists that we have their backs when it comes to manly scented shower equipment,” said Joe Arcuri, Vice President, North America Beauty Care at Procter & Gamble. “We know many guys are living with an unspoken shame – that they simply use whatever bar soap is already in the shower based on what the woman in their life purchased and is often using. I guess we’re also in the business of helping guys reclaim their territory in the shower.”
To complement the launch of its new lineup of bar soaps, Old Spice will roll out a new broadcast television advertising campaign that pays tribute to the popular jingle soap commercials of the 1980s and 1990s. Developed by Wieden+Kennedy (Portland, Ore.), the campaign demonstrates how guys can wash their body the manly way, with manly scented bar soap to the tune of an extremely masculine, yet incredibly informative jingle about their life story. The campaign will launch with two television ads, “Shower” (:30/:15) and “Watermelon” (:15) on April 9, with a third spot to debut this summer.
The new Old Spice bar soap launch also will be supported by a cinema and dedicated online campaign with rich media banners bringing the marketing creative’s tagline – “The Bar Soap You’ve Been Smelling For” – to life.
As the No.1 selling anti-perspirant/deodorant stick and body wash brand with guys, Old Spice is offering bar soap users the opportunity to bring their favorite Old Spice scents into the shower …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Investors want dividend stocks for their solid income, dependable returns, and relative stability in the face of an increasingly shaky stock market. With the S&P 500 near record highs, the fact that dividend stocks can provide some ballast against overall market declines looks more attractive than ever.
But looking at raw dividend yield can mislead you into buying stocks that aren’t as stable as you might think. As a better alternative, let’s instead look at the 11 stalwart blue-chip companies that paid more than $5 billion in dividends to shareholders during 2012, according to figures from S&P Capital IQ.
|
Rank |
Company Name |
Amount Paid in Dividends |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
AT&T |
$10.24 billion |
|
2 |
ExxonMobil |
$10.09 billion |
|
3 |
General Electric |
$7.19 billion |
|
4 |
Microsoft |
$6.97 billion |
|
5 |
Chevron |
$6.84 billion |
|
6 |
Johnson & Johnson |
$6.61 billion |
|
7 |
Procter & Gamble |
$5.88 billion |
|
8 |
Philip Morris International |
$5.40 billion |
|
9 |
Wal-Mart |
$5.36 billion |
|
10 |
Verizon |
$5.23 billion |
|
11 |
Merck |
$5.12 billion |
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
Looking at these 11 stocks, you can see some general trends. Certain industries are better represented than others, as their business models lend themselves more to generous dividend payouts than those of other companies. Perhaps the most obvious example is the telecom industry, in which both AT&T and Verizon have spent massive amounts of capital building out their respective wireless networks. Yet despite having to service extremely high levels of debt to repay what they borrowed to build those networks, dependable monthly income from millions of subscribers provides more than enough cash flow both to pay interest and principal on their debt and to return capital to shareholders. As long as their services remain in demand, Verizon and AT&T should remain near the top of this list.
Energy stocks ExxonMobil and Chevron also appear near the top of the list, and although the energy industry involves much different operational aspects from telecom, oil and gas companies have some of the same business-model characteristics. Finding reserves and drilling wells require substantial upfront capital investment, but once production begins, the profits are substantial enough to more than make up for the carrying cost of those upfront capital expenditures. Even with natural gas prices being far from ideal from a profitability standpoint, great conditions in the refining business have helped these integrated oil giants produce even more free cash flow to return to shareholders.
Get your share of dividends
If you want income from your investments today, dividend-paying stocks are your best bet. These stocks pay billions to their investors, and they’re among the most solid prospects in the market. That’s a powerful combination that you should consider closely for your portfolio.
If you’re looking for some more long-term investing ideas …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Investors have always been interested in stocks that pay dividends, but lately, low interest rates on bonds and other fixed-income investments have made solid dividend payers even more valuable. Among the most promising dividend stocks in the market is Colgate-Palmolive , and one big reason is that it is one of the few exclusive companies to make the list of Dividend Aristocrats. In order to become a member of this elite group, a company must have raised its dividend payouts to shareholders every single year for at least a quarter-century. Only a few dozen stocks manage to make the cut, and those that do tend to stay there for a long time.
Colgate-Palmolive is well-known for its impressive stable of consumer products. Doing business around the world, the company has delivered not only solid dividends for decades, but also the growth prospects that investors always like to see in a stock. Let’s take a closer look at Colgate-Palmolive to see whether it can sustain its long streak of rewarding dividend payouts to investors.
Dividend Stats on Colgate-Palmolive
|
|
|
|---|---|
|
Current Quarterly Dividend Per Share |
$0.68* |
|
Current Yield |
2.3% |
|
Number of Consecutive Years With Dividend Increases |
50 years |
|
Payout Ratio |
47% |
|
Last Increase |
April 2013* |
Source: Yahoo! Finance. Last increase refers to ex-dividend date. * Declared but not yet paid.
How has Colgate-Palmolive been treating shareholders lately?
As one of the best companies in America, Colgate has come from modest roots as a soap and toothpaste maker to become a global consumer-goods powerhouse. Even given the defensive nature of the sector, Colgate’s stock has performed extremely well, soaring to new all-time highs, and climbing more than 50% since early 2011.
Colgate’s overall growth strategy is largely behind the successful performance of its stock, as the company has tied its success to that of international markets across the globe. With a particular emphasis on Latin America, Colgate has prospered with strong financial results. By contrast, Procter & Gamble, the giant in the sector, has had trouble keeping its growth up in light of difficulties with product innovation, and a slowdown in its international growth. That has opened the door for Colgate to take a bigger role in the industry.
Yet, companies with strong track records of raising dividends for decades have generally had to overcome challenges along the way. Like many of its consumer-products peers, Colgate has had to face rising costs for some of the materials it needs to produce its goods. In order to keep its margins up, Colgate announced layoffs last fall amounting to about 6% of its workforce around the world. Despite those pressures, Colgate-Palmolive has managed to keep its payouts strong:
Colgate-Palmolive Dividend data by YCharts.
One big problem that hit Colgate recently was the devaluation of the Venezuelan bolivar currency. Colgate failed to be as proactive about the potential for a devaluation …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Jeremy Bowman, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 touched new record highs today led by the health-care sector, which jumped following a surprise increase in Medicare Advantage payout rates.
The Dow crossed 14,600 for the first time, gaining 0.6% or 89 points, to finish at 14,662. After hours yesterday, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services reversed earlier signals that it would lower Medicare Advantage payouts by 2.2% and instead decided to raise them 3.3%. Not surprisingly, health-insurance stocks rallied across the board, with UnitedHealth Group gaining 4.7% to lead all Dow stocks. Humana, which is heavily dependent on Medicare payouts, jumped 5.5%, and Aetna gained 3.7%.
Factory orders for February were also better than expected, increasing 3% on expectations of 2.6%. January orders were also revised upward from -2% to -1%. On a similar note, auto sales from the Big Three hit their best sales level in five years in March on higher demand for fuel-efficient vehicles and pick-up trucks.
Not all stocks made headway today, though. Hewlett-Packard sank 5.2 % after Goldman Sachs downgraded the PC-maker to “sell” from “hold.” The investment bank said HP may be overbought after its recent run-up, adding that investors may be overly hopeful for a turnaround, considering its key PC and printer businesses continue to decline. Goldman also that HP will have to invest much of its cash flow in research and development, putting a further strain on profits.
Elsewhere, Procter & Gamble moved up 1.6% after the consumer-goods giant said it had achieved zero waste in 25% or 45 of its manufacturing facilities worldwide, with another 20 soon to meet the sustainable standard. P&G now uses 99% of materials that enter its factories, and the news serves as a reminder that P&G continues to innovate and lets consumer know they can feel good about buying P&G products.
When President Obama was re-elected, shares of UnitedHealth and other health insurers fell immediately. Is Obamacare a death knell for health insurers, or is the market missing out on some of the opportunities the law presents? In this brand-new premium report on UnitedHealth, The Motley Fool takes a long-term view, homing in on prospects for UnitedHealth in an Obamacare world. So don’t miss out — simply click here now to claim your copy today.
var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ eventType: “TickerReportPitch”, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
The new earnings season is about to begin, but a few companies on off-quarter fiscal years are just now getting around to reporting their quarterly results. WD-40 is about to release its earnings report. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarterly reports is to anticipate how they’ll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you’ll be less likely to make an uninformed kneejerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.
Most people think of WD-40 as a single-product company, with its namesake solvent being ubiquitous with a place on just about every garage shelf in America. But the company does have a few other products in its arsenal. Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with WD-40 over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report on Thursday.
Stats on WD-40
|
Analyst EPS Estimate |
$0.56 |
|
Change From Year-Ago EPS |
(14%) |
|
Revenue Estimate |
$87.4 million |
|
Change From Year-Ago Revenue |
1.6% |
|
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters |
2 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
Will WD-40 get the job done this quarter?
Analysts have had mixed views on WD-40 recently, cutting back on earnings estimates for the just-ended quarter but boosting their full-year fiscal 2013 calls by $0.03 per share. The stock has done quite well lately, though, rising almost 14% since the beginning of the year.
WD-40 reaps the benefits of having its small niche largely to itself. But beyond its namesake product, it also makes Lava soap and 2000 Flushes bathroom cleanser, putting itself up against much larger consumer-oriented giants like Unilever‘s Dove soap line and Procter & Gamble‘s numerous cleaning products.
What may be surprising is the extent to which WD-40 has followed in Unilever and P&G’s steps by looking to overseas markets for growth opportunities. Unfortunately, WD-40 has a much larger presence in Europe than in Asia, and given Europe‘s struggles, the company could face tougher times ahead until the economy there manages to rebound. That’s consistent with Procter & Gamble’s challenges overseas, although Unilever has done a good job taking advantage of P&G’s miscues to tap into global growth prospects.
Still, WD-40 is never going to reach a scale even approaching its consumer-giant rivals. Rather, it has pigeonholed itself fairly well into what has been a successful niche for the company, albeit with only modest prospects for future growth.
In its quarterly report, watch for WD-40 to give details on how its $50 million share buyback program is going. With the company sporting impressive cash flow that has financed rising dividends lately, investors in WD-40 aren’t looking for a quick score. Rather, as long as long-term prospects remain favorable, a small decline in year-over-year earnings shouldn’t cause any huge disruptions unless it comes with future …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
LPGA commissioner, Mike Whan, stopped by the Forbes offices recently for a chat. The 48 year-old former executive at Procter & Gamble, Wilson Sporting Goods and Taylormade Golf Company became the commissioner of the Tour in January of 2010. He made some waves last year when he told me in an interview that he believes that Augusta National (site of the Masters) should host an LPGA tournament, and that he asks the powers that be about it every year. (A short time later, Augusta admitted its first female members—Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore.) …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you’d like to add some socially responsible stocks to your portfolio, the iShares MSCI Select Socially Responsible ETF could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which companies will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in lots of them simultaneously.
The basics
ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual fund cousins. The iShares ETF‘s expense ratio — its annual fee — is a relatively low 0.50%. The fund is on the small side, so if you’re thinking of buying, beware of possibly large spreads between its bid and ask prices. Consider using a limit order if you want to buy in.
This ETF has underperformed the S&P 500 over the past three and five years, though it’s handily topping it so far this year. As with most investments, of course, we can’t expect outstanding performances in every quarter or year. Investors with conviction need to wait for their holdings to deliver.
Why socially responsible?
More than a handful of socially responsible companies had strong performances over the past year. Eaton surged 29%, with the power management company shifting its focus from international projects to more U.S.-based ones. Management recently projected revenue growth of 42% in 2013 and that operating earnings will set a record. Eaton has also started seeing its inventories of heavy equipment start to shrink, which is promising. Goldman Sachs recently recommended the stock, but Fool contributor Rich Smith would steer clear, due to Eaton’s debt and valuation. Among many environmental initiatives, the company has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 26% since 2006.
Procter & Gamble gained 19%. The company has been struggling in recent years that featured anemic revenue growth and, until this past year, shrinking earnings. Its strong second quarter was in large part due to cost-cutting, with promises of innovation-driven growth ahead. Among many socially responsible initiatives, it has been cutting its energy and water use and reducing its waste output as well — in all cases by double-digit percentage rates over the past few years.
Aerospace and defense electronics specialist Rockwell Collins advanced 12%, recently hitting a 52-week high. Due to possible and actual cutbacks in military spending, the company has been shifting more of its attention to the commercial arena and has shrunk its workforce some, too, due to sequestration effects. The company has laid out its sustainability goals, such as a 15% reduction in greenhouse gases and issues regular reports on its progress.
Other companies didn’t do as well last year, but could see their fortunes change in the coming years. Natural gas specialist Spectra Energy gained 2%, for example. The company has been inking some promising …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Brendan Byrnes, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
In the following video, we speak with Roger Martin, strategy expert and dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. We discuss what Martin believes is J.C. Penney‘s fundamental strategic flaw, the fact that it’s competing against itself with the new “store within a store” concept, and why he believes the company is doomed to fail.
A transcript follows the video.
The full interview with Roger Martin can be seen here, in which we discuss a number of topics, including Bill Ackman, innovation, corporate responsibility, executive compensation, and how to pick out great companies. Martin is the co-author of Playing to Win, a new book focusing on strategy, written with former Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley.
If you’re on the hunt for a great stock idea, The Motley Fool’s chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report: “The Motley Fool’s Top Stock for 2013.” Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.
Brendan Byrnes: You know a thing or two about strategy, having helped turn around Procter & Gamble. I wanted to ask you about Bill Ackman and J.C. Penney. You wrote in a blog post recently that “Bill Ackman shows almost no evidence of understanding enough about strategy to turn around a company.” What’s he doing wrong?
Roger Martin: Well, I think he understands a whole lot about capital markets and a whole lot about how to make investors happy, but I’m not sure he knows how to make consumers — customers — happy in a way that brings about competitive advantage.
What I see with J.C. Penney is sort of a fallacy that I see often in the strategy of companies, which is that it’s good enough to try to improve things. It’s not. Improving is good, but only in the context of having a goal to have an advantage against competitors with some set of customers so that customers say, “I need this company.”
If you just improve a company, you say, “I’m going to get their inventory turns up, or their sales per square foot up.” That ends up often disappointing. I think that’s, in some sense, what’s happening at J.C. Penney.
They just announced a huge fourth-quarter loss. Same-story sales were down almost 30% in 2012, but the focus has been on, “Oh, we’ve got the new J.C. Penney” — 10% of the stores are this new store within a store, and it’s double the sales per square foot of the rest of J.C. Penney — “so as soon as we get the stores converted over to 100% of this our sales per square foot,” which were 130 apparently, and are 260 within the little store-within-a-store new J.C. Penney, “everything will be fine.”
But that begs the question, “Who are you competing against?” I would argue that …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Both the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 finished March at new all-time record highs. But with the first quarter of 2013 in the record books, the question investors need to ask is what will keep the bull market in stocks alive going forward.
Three key contributors have helped push the Dow to new highs, and they’re poised to keep supporting the market. Let’s take a closer look.
1. Interest rates will stay low.
Low interest rates have been the lifeblood of the bull market over the past four years. As much as lower rates have hurt savers, they have given corporations a chance to refinance debt and obtain more capital very inexpensively. Highly rated blue-chip stock Microsoft tapped the bond market last November, finding investors willing to allow it to borrow money for five years at a rate of less than 1%. Less creditworthy companies haven’t gotten rates that low, but they’ve nevertheless been able to refinance existing debt at lower rates than they were paying before.
Low interest rates have already had the effect of cutting interest expense, helping profitability and boosting margins. Although yields have perked up a bit lately, concerns about the global economy should lead the Federal Reserve to keep monetary policy easy for a while yet. That will give companies some chances to extend their cheap borrowing and keep the earnings that have helped push their stock prices up.
2. Dividends will keep increasing.
More than anything these days, investors appreciate income. The consequence of low interest rates is that investors have increasingly looked to stocks to provide the income that bonds, bank CDs, and other traditional income investments haven’t delivered lately.
So far this year, a number of Dow stocks have raised their dividends, and if past patterns hold true, then consumer giants Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson should come through with dividend increases of their own in the next month or two. Similar increases have happened with thousands of stocks throughout the market over the past year, and all indications are for those gains to continue. If they do, then it will support the market‘s moves to new records.
3. Investors will chase performance.
Historically, most ordinary investors have bad timing with their investment decisions. Millions of investors got out of stocks only after the worst of the financial crisis had hit, suffering big losses but missing out on the subsequent rebound. Only now are they starting to come back into the market, seeing record highs as an all-clear sign that it’s safe to buy stocks again.
Performance-related buying of stocks has been muted in recent years by strong performance of bond investments, which reaped the benefits of falling rates through capital gains on their value. But those gains came at the price of dramatically lower yields, squeezing income. Now, even the smallest move upward in bond yields has sent prices of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Filed under: Currency, Exchange Rates, Economic Indicators, Economic Recovery, Economy
By STEVE ROTHWELL
NEW YORK — The dollar is rising again.
After a drop last autumn, the U.S. dollar has climbed 5 percent against other currencies over the past two months, reaching the highest level since August.
The main reason is the recovery in the U.S. economy. Although growth is still weak, the outlook for the U.S. is better than elsewhere in the developed world. Europe is stuck in a recession and struggling to control its debt. Japan is trying to push down the value of the yen to boost exports and end deflation.
A strong dollar helps Americans by making imports cheaper and curbing inflation, but it can also hurt U.S. companies. Technology companies have become increasingly reliant on overseas sales, and a stronger dollar reduces the value of their overseas earnings.
The impact of the dollar’s appreciation is starting to show up in earnings reports. The insurer Aflac, which does much of its business in Japan, says its earnings were hurt as the yen fell against the U.S. currency. Procter & Gamble, which makes Gillette razors and Crest toothpaste, said the stronger dollar was holding back its sales growth.
Many analysts predict that the dollar will continue to rise. Here’s a look at what a stronger dollar means for investors.
Tough for Tech and Materials Makers
A rising dollar could spell trouble for U.S. companies that make software and gadgets, as well as companies that make basic materials like aluminum.
The tech industry relies heavily on foreign sales for growth. About 56 percent of its revenue comes from outside the U.S., according to research by RBC Capital Markets. As the dollar strengthens, U.S. goods become more expensive overseas, discouraging buyers.
Investors worry that could slow business — and profits. As a result, technology companies are tied with materials makers as the worst industry in the S&P 500 this year, rising just 4.2 percent, compared with 10 percent for the overall market. Business software giant Oracle said its most recent earnings report on March 20 that the rising dollar lowered its earnings by about two percent.
The materials industry, which includes Dow Chemical and miner Cliffs Natural Resources, also gets more than half of its sales overseas.
“We would be wary of sectors that derive a lot of their sales overseas, given that fact that we expect the dollar’s strength to remain,” says Kristen Scarpa, an investment strategist at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management.
Commodity Concerns
When the dollar appreciates, it makes commodities like oil and metals — which are priced only in dollars — more expensive for customers who buy them with other currencies like the euro and the yen.
That can weaken demand for commodities, hurting the profits of the companies that produce them, like oil producers Exxon Mobil, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Nicole Seghetti, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Billionaire and superinvestor Warren Buffett knows a good deal when he sees one. Not only does he boast enviable power to cut a great deal but also unparalleled financial resources to do so. In his decades of investing, Buffett has concentrated on stocks as his securities of choice. But if he were to stray from his first love and flirt with exchange-traded funds, what ETFs might he find himself tempted by?
Wish list
In observing Buffett, we know that he likes simple businesses with proven business models, essentially companies that he can hold in his portfolio forever. And the man likes good value. After all, he’s a value investor who salivates over a juicy spread between a stock‘s current price and its intrinsic value.
So let’s take a look at a few ETFs that could be considered Warren-worthy and examine why each of these might rouse a twinkle in his eye.
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF
Without a doubt, Warren Buffett is a blue-chip stock investor. According to his most recent annual shareholder letter, Berkshire Hathaway holds multibillion dollar positions in five of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. These include corporate bellwethers IBM and Procter & Gamble, which have existed for a combined 277 years, through countless wars, recessions, and natural disasters. In fact, IBM and P&G make up more than 15% of this State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF.
As a man who likes to save his pennies, Buffett would applaud this ETF‘s low annual expense ratio of 17 basis points. Even though he doesn’t favor returning money to his own Berkshire shareholders in the form of dividends, he’d likely find this ETF‘s 2.4% dividend yield fairly enticing. Since he also likes companies that boast a long track record of success and have tenure in the business, he’d probably approve of this ETF, as it’s traded for 15 of the 20 years that ETFs have existed.
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF
Buffett’s proclaimed love of Cherry Coke and hamburgers indicate that he’s a man of simple tastes. This ETF tracks an index that includes companies from some of his favorite industries, like food and beverage, staples retailing, household goods, and personal products. His recent H. J. Heinz deal proves his affection for savory pleasures, both for the taste buds and the bank account.
Buffett owns billions of dollars of both consumer staples heavyweights Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart stocks, which comprise 10% and 8%, respectively, of the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF. This ETF boasts an attractively low annual expense ratio of 18 basis points and also pays a generous 2.8% dividend yield. Considered longevity in the ETF world, this particular fund has existed since 1998.
iShares Dow Jones US Financial Sector ETF
In the depths of the financial crisis, Buffett was called upon to help out some very big banks. In exchange, he received sweetheart deals that small-fry investors like you and me …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Morgan Housel and Austin Smith, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Last week, the Federal Reserve reassured investors that it will keep its foot on the monetary gas pedal. This is good news for stocks — for the time being.
But what happens when the Fed decides to let up, reining in its super-loose money policies of the last five years?
investors naturally fear a big market pullback. And that may be what occurs. But in this video, Fool analysts Morgan Housel and Austin Smith discuss the other side of the story and why an end to easy money doesn’t necessarily mean the end of stocks.
The Motley Fool’s chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report “The Motley Fool’s Top Stock for 2013.” Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.
The article What Happens to Stocks When the Fed Bids Farewell? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Morgan Housel owns shares of Altria Group, Procter & Gamble, and Philip Morris International. Austin Smith owns shares of Philip Morris International and Colgate-Palmolive. The Motley Fool recommends Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool owns shares of Philip Morris International. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance